A Sensemaking Approach to Tablet Users’ Accommodating Practices

As mobile devices permeate daily life, several studies investigate how users react when technology falls short of their expectations. In this paper, we deploy a data/frame model to examine sensemaking processes through which users approach their interaction with the tablet under conditions of discomfort. We show that users eventually handle such problematic episodes by adopting one of three identified practices: they choose to defer tasks until the situation changes or abandon the platform altogether; they develop workarounds at different levels of mastery; or they proceed by reframing their expectations for the mobile platform. The paper’s contribution is twofold. Investigating user narratives on interaction, our study explicates the sensemaking processes through which users adopt one of the three practices. On a practical level, its results can inform IT artefact and application design by offering insight on how users proceed in bridging the gap between their expectations and the situation at hand.